In my previous blog, I wrote about our 1st endurance competition, the Eastern Sierra Classic 30 mile LD, which was in August, 2006. I was able to ride with an experienced endurance rider/friend, Megan Mulloney. After that competition, I was mainly on my own as far as having a human riding partner. Besides my horse, my other very important partner in my endurance journey has been my husband, Peter. He has gone on every endurance ride with me, doing almost all of the driving (mainly because he does not like how I drive, even though I am not a bad driver) and crewing for me when needed. He now rarely crews for me, unless I am doing a 100 miler, because after my first 2 endurance distance races, I realized that I really did not need him to help me that much on 50 mile races.
I moved up to the endurance distance of 50 miles the following month. I entered and completed the 50 mile AERC ride, Camp Far West, in September, 2006. Most of my ride stories from the past will be on the brief side since they were so long ago.
The only photo I have from our Camp Far West Ride.
At the finish.
One of the things that I remember about this ride is that since I was riding on my own for the first time, I was afraid of going off trail so I made sure that other riders were always in site. I did not join other groups; I just made sure I could see them ahead of me. Many riders passed me. One rider did join me for a while. About mile 7 or so someone caught up to me, and I asked if she wanted to pass. She said no, and asked if it was OK for her to ride with us (my horse and I) because she liked the pace I was going. I said, "of course". She was a polite rider and gave my horse and I a lot of room. One thing I learned from my first endurance ride the prior month, and riding with someone else, is that we took turns having our horses leading and following. I asked the woman riding behind me to let me know if she ever wanted to take a turn leading, but she did not want to. I just rode my own ride, trotting and taking walking breaks, and she followed my pace. I now realize that some horses are better at following than leading. I am fortunate in that my horse is great at leading and following. He also does well when we are alone with no other horses in site. I'm sure that this is due to the fact that 99% of our conditioning rides are done alone (except for the first 9 months when I was able to ride with my friend, Megan, and her horse). I have since learned that horses get to relax a bit more when they are following another horse. At the first vet check, my horse pulsed down ahead of the lady's horse we rode in with, so I left sooner than her on the next loop. Still being afraid I would miss a ribbon and get lost, I made sure that I was within seeing distance to the 2 riders in front of me. However, this only lasted for a few miles. I had a faster pace then them, and I made the brave decision to pass them and hope that I would not get lost. I did not.
We finished in fine form with a ride time of 6:50. I went to the trailer and un-tacked Caartouche and cleaned him up and then took him for his completion check. He passed just fine with a heart rate of 52.
It is on this ride that I realized that I did not need Peter to help me crew so much in the future. Because I was nervous about this being my first 50, I was an awful, demanding, Bitchy rider to my husband/crew. I asked Peter just now how long did he think that behavior lasted because I thought I got better right away, and he laughed quite loudly. He said I was definitely better after the first 50 miler, but the demanding behavior lasted for 3 to 4 years (this is my 9th year riding endurance). One thing that I know that I changed after this ride, and Peter agrees, is that I am now very appreciative of his help. In those first 3 to 4 years, I never asked him to meet me on an out vet check since I could pack my own crew bag. However, I did want his help meeting me when I came into vet checks at base camp, as well as helping me to get my horse cleaned up sometimes at the end of a race.
Now, 9 years later, I do 90% of the crewing myself (except the driving to and from the rides). When we travel to rides that have access for motorcycling, Peter puts his motorcycle dirt bike either in the first horse stall in the horse trailer or on the rack in front of the truck. I often won't see him until after I have finished my race.
In any case, I love that Peter goes with me on my competitions. My dog, Hana, comes too. (Except for Tevis.)
Here is a photo of Hana and Peter inside our camper. I will be writing about the purchase of our camper (March, 2007) in one of my next blogs. For the first 8 months, we camped/slept in the back of the truck shell. I don't have any photos of us camping in the shell while on endurance rides.
A photo of Peter, Hana, and Caartouche on a later AERC ride.
After vetting through at the finish, I let my horse eat and drink and rest for a couple hours before heading home. When I rode the 30 mile LD the previous month, I was hardly sore at all. After this 50 mile race, I was so sore. I was even uncomfortable sitting in the passenger seat with the seat as far back as it could go. I had to crawl in the small back seat of the truck with my dog and lay down. I can honestly say that that was the most sore I have ever felt. One thing about doing a lot of endurance riding is that my body got really strong by riding consistently. For the first 3 years I usually rode at least one endurance ride a month.
We dropped Caartouche off where I board him, and I turned him out and let him roll before putting him in his paddock. I checked out all his vitals again. He had been eating, drinking, peeing and pooping regularly, so I went home feeling confident that he had recovered well.
Yay-we did it. OK. What next?
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